Title: Ryder
Series: Slater Brothers (#4)
Author: L.A. Casey
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, New Adult, Romantic Comedy
Release Date: February 23
Cover Design: Mayhem Cover Creations
Branna Murphy is broken. For months now she has been a part
of a one-sided relationship to a man she loves more than life itself. She
prayed for a miracle, and hoped something would change, but found that was
wishful thinking.
Talking didn’t work. Shouting didn’t work. Crying didn’t
work. Nothing bloody worked.
Ryder Slater is furious. For months now he has been lying to
a woman he would take a bullet for in order to protect her. He is involved in
something that goes deeper than his old past, and if he strays off target,
people will start to die. People he loves.
He couldn’t talk. He couldn’t slip up. He couldn’t lose
focus. He couldn’t do a damn thing.
Things between Ryder and Branna are at rock bottom, and
Ryder knows it. Not only will he be taking on a force that could destroy his
whole family, but he will be battling tooth and nail to save his relationship
and keep the love of his life by his side.
Ryder targeted Branna from the first moment he saw her, and
what Ryder targets, Ryder dominates.
Pre-Order Links
Amazon US - UK - CA - AU
B&N - iBooks - Kobo
“Who were you talking to on the phone?” he asked me, his
voice so low I barely heard him.
I was a little annoyed that he asked me an invasive question
when he never answered any of mine. I wanted to counter with multiple questions
of my own, asking where he went every night when he thought I was asleep and
why he was on his phone all the time, but I had no energy for a fight.
He wouldn’t answer me if I asked anyway; he never did.
“Just Ash who works the delivery suite with me.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ryder nod. He had never
met Ash, and I rarely spoke of him, so I had no idea what was going through his
mind with my response.
“Are you okay?” he randomly asked.
I was so surprised at the question that I looked at him with
raised eyebrows and said, “Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”
He shrugged, staring down at me, his eyes non-blinking. “You
barely cracked a smile when Bronagh was announcing she was having a girl.”
Because I did my happy dance back at the hospital when she
found out.
I looked forward. “I had a long day at work, I’m just
tired.”
“Too tired to be happy for your sister?”
How dare he!
“I am happy for her. I don’t need to be all up in her face
to be happy for her, Ryder.”
Silence.
“It seems to me like you’re a little bit …”
“A little bit what?” I pressed.
The door of the elevator opened just as Ryder said,
“Jealous.”
I stepped out of the elevator, politely nodded to the
security man that manned the lobby desk, and quickly walked in the direction of
the main entrance.
“Branna?” Ryder groaned. “Look, wait a second.”
I didn’t. I picked up my pace and almost sprinted out of the
apartment complex. When I got outside, I nodded to the security guards at the
doors and headed straight for Ryder’s Land Rover that was parked in-between
Dominic and Alec’s cars.
I rushed to the passenger door and stared at the handle
until I heard Ryder sigh and press on the car key, unlocking the doors. I
gripped the handle, pulled the door open and got up into the car, slamming the
door shut behind me.
“Damn it, Branna,” Ryder complained when he got into the
driver’s seat. “Don’t take your bad mood out on my car.”
Fuck you and your stupid car.
“I wouldn’t be in a bad mood had you not said somethin’ so
…”
“So what?”
“Insensitive!” I finished.
“Insensitive,” Ryder repeated and turned his body to face
me. “How is me saying you’re jealous of Bronagh having a girl insensitive?”
I couldn’t even look at him.
“You aren’t stupid. Think about it and I’m sure you’ll
realise why.”
Ryder didn’t move a muscle as he continued to stare at me.
“You are jealous,” he murmured then gasped. “You want a
baby?”
I looked out the window, not answering him.
“Branna,” he pressed. “You want a baby?”
Without looking at him I said, “I’ve wanted a baby for
years, I just never said anythin’ to you to push the issue because so much
bullshit has happened to our families, and being the oldest pair we had to push
everythin’ aside and make sure everyone was okay. We’re the parental figures.
We make sure everyone else is doin’ good before we even consider lookin’ at our
own needs.”
Ryder was silent as I spoke so I pressed on.
“You know I love kids and I probably would have had a few
before I met you, but havin’ a life was put on hold when me parents died. I had
to focus on Bronagh, not me, her. Bein’ a midwife was me dream, it’s the one
thing I allowed meself to want. It’s why I worked me arse off to become one in
me late twenties whilst raisin’ a bratty teenager.”
I glanced at him as he continued to remain silent.
“Do you think we’re at a point where we should have a kid?”
he asked, and I heard the doubt laced throughout his voice.
It killed me, but I agreed with him.
“No, we aren’t in the position to raise a dog, let alone a
child.”
Ryder faced forward and jammed his key into the ignition and
started up his car.
“Besides,” he quipped, “we’d actually have to fuck in order
to get you pregnant.”
His anger was expected.
I flattened my hands out on my thighs and resisted the urge
to ball them into fists.
“We probably would if you didn’t go off every single night
to do God knows what.”
The silent ‘or who’ was implied, but the words never left my
lips because I was terrified if it turned out to be a ‘who’ that was the reason
for him leaving every night.
I didn’t think I would be able to handle that, and decided I
was better off not knowing. My sister, and the other girls, would smack me
around for resorting to this way of thinking, but they didn’t know what my home
life or relationship with Ryder was like.
They thought they knew, but they didn’t.
“Don’t feed me that bullshit,” Ryder growled as he pulled
out of the space. “I’m home a lot and you still never put out. You left our bed
to sleep up in Dominic’s old room, the furthest away from me that you can be in
our house.”
I felt disgusted.
“Me purpose on this Earth isn’t to fuck you whenever you see
fit.”
“No,” Ryder agreed, “but it’d be nice if I could hit it at
least once a fucking week. I haven’t touched you in months. I’d settle for
fucking spooning at this point.”
He spoke of me like I was nothing more than a sexual object.
“And whose fault is that?” I bellowed, throwing my hands in
the air. “You’ve pulled away from me. We don’t talk, we don’t laugh, we don’t
do anythin’ but fight with one another and it’s your bloody fault. You have
landed us in this rut, and the sad thing is I don’t even know why! I don’t know
what you do when you leave the house every night, or why you’re always on your
phone, and it’s pathetic that I’ve just accepted it, but I’m too tired. I fight
with you all the time, I’m too exhausted to do anythin’ else.”
I turned my head and looked out the window of the car,
willing the tears in my eyes not to fall. I didn’t want to cry, I was so sick
of crying.
“I’ve told you I’m takin’ care of some things. That’s all
you need to know.”
I closed my eyes, gutted he still wouldn’t share his secrets
with me.
“I don’t believe you, Ryder.”
“Then I don’t know what to tell you, Branna.”
“How about the truth for once?” I countered. “Just tell me
where you go and what you do.”
His hands tightened around the steering wheel as we
approached our street.
“I can’t tell you, you wouldn’t understand.”
I looked down to my thighs and swallowed.
“I can’t understand if you don’t help me to.”
Ryder grunted as he pulled into the car parking space in
front of our house, putting the car in park. “This is on me, okay? It’s nothing
for you to worry about, and you will worry if I tell you, and I don’t want that
to happen. We’re all under a lot of pressure with Big Phil still out there; my
business doesn’t need to be added to that.”
He got out of the car, closed the door and walked up the
pathway and into our house, leaving me on my own with my thoughts.
“I can’t do this anymore,” I said aloud, forcing myself to
hear the words.
We couldn’t continue on the path we were on. Something had
to change, and in that moment I knew exactly what I had to do to start the
healing process for the many wounds that had been cut open and exposed over the
last few years.
I had to make a change. I had to separate myself from the
very being that wounded me so … even if he didn’t mean to.
I squeezed my eyes shut as pain struck. The remaining
fragments of my willowed heart shattered into a million pieces as I made a life
changing decision. A decision that would affect not only me, but my family and
friends, too.
I reached out and blindingly gripped onto the dashboard of
the car to stop myself from collapsing as my mind whispered what I needed to do
to be free.
I had to break up with Ryder.
Don’t cry.
Dominic
Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks | Kobo
Bronagh
Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks | Kobo
Alec
Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks | Kobo
Keela
Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks | Kobo
Kane
Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks | Kobo
Aideen
Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks | Kobo
L.A. Casey is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling
author who juggles her time with her mini-me and writing. She was born, raised
and currently resides in Dublin, Ireland. She enjoys chatting with her readers,
who love her humor and Irish accent as much as her books.
Casey’s first book Dominic, was independently published in
2014 and became an instant success on Amazon. Now a hybrid author, she is both
traditionally and independently published and is represented by Mark Gottlieb
from Trident Media Group.
Facebook | Twitter | Website
Amazon | Goodreads
Subscribe to L.A. Casey’s Newsletter
Enter to win one of 2 ARCs of Ryder!
(Available in February!)
No comments:
Post a Comment